Marine Lenehan (Dan Morrissey-Pissei) claimed victory in her first road race of the season having started her 2025 campaign with several impressive performances in Gran Fondos in Europe.
The UCI Gravel Gran Fondo World Championships winner, and Gran Fondo European champion, was best at the Des Hanlon Memorial on Sunday, saying she was determined to make the race hard.
She powered clear solo about 7km from the finish to take a clear win, some 20 seconds clear of Abi Conway (Westport Covey Wheelers), one of the riders of the season last year, with off-road specialist Greta Lawless (Team WORC) taking an impressive 3rd place.
"I was looking forward to it because it was my first race of the season in Ireland and it was also the sponsor's race," said Lenehan. "We were hoping to get 1st in the women's and in the men's, but at least we got first in the women's," she added of team mate Con Scully just coming up short in the men's race behind Ruairi Byrne (UCD Cycling Club).
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Lenehan said the first 20km of racing was subdued, with some attacks but not outright aggression. However, once the race moved onto the two laps of the circuit, she tried to throw in some digs, as did her team mate Aine Doherty, with Annalise Murphy (Longcourt Hotel-NCW Wheelers) also mixing it up.
"Me and Aine had said before the start, because it was a short race, we wanted to make it hard to try and have as much fun as possible," she said.
"On the first of the two short laps, on the first long climb of 4k, I was at the front trying to push the tempo to race it hard. I attacked there and broke the peloton in two, there was about six or seven of us at the front."
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Lenehan said the second lap was the most aggressive section of the race, with plenty of attacking from her group, but nothing sticking. However, with about 7km to go, she jumped and managed to get clear and ride it in to the finish to secure victory.
"I went on that steep little ramp and I didn't look back, it was nice," she said. "I think everyone was sort of surprised because maybe I'd win races in a sprint. I am a sprinter so I have a tendency to wait for the last few hundred metres and then go, but I think I caught everyone by surprise."
After the top three on the day, Lenehan's team mate, Doherty, finished 4th on the same time as 3rd place Lawless; both at 21 seconds. Then came Murphy, in 5th, at 31 seconds, followed by Elena Wallace (Harps CC) at 46 seconds.
Doireann Killeen (Kilcullen Cycling Club Murphy Geospacial) was 7th at 1:07, with Nicola Lynch (Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club) 8th at 1:31, before a near 10-minute gap to the best of the rest.
Lenehan said she was especially please to win as she had been looking forward to the Gorey Three Day, though that was no cancelled due to low entry numbers.
"That reduces the calendar a bit and then the following two weekends I'm racing abroad again," she said. "After that I'm going to be back in Ireland for a good two months, and I'll try and do as many of the national graded events and the Nationals.
"For me it's about getting as much race experience as I can this year, whether it's in Ireland or abroad. I would like to be riding more women's only races in Ireland. We're getting there, but it's sad that events like Gorey Three Day just get canceled because that was a great opportunity to do women's racing."
However, she also had her sights on Rás na mBan towards the end of the season, saying that was a great opportunity to test herself road racing.
